Pannun 'murder' plot: India calls US court summons ‘unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations’

Just two days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, a major controversy has erupted following a US federal court issuing summons against the Indian Government and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval among others over a civil lawsuit filed by Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said these were based on “completely unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations”. Modi will be in the US from September 21 to 23.

Asked about the summons, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri today said these did not change India’s views about the underlying situation.

Misri said, “As we’ve said earlier, these are completely unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations. Now that this particular case has been lodged, it doesn’t change our views about the underlying situation. I would only invite your attention to the person (Pannun) behind this particular case whose antecedents are well known,” he said.

Misri, without naming the banned Sikhs for Justice, said the organisation represented by Pannun was an unlawful entity, which had been declared as such under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967.

Misri said, “The organisation has been banned on account of its involvement in anti-national and subversive activities aimed at disrupting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India.”

Pannun filed the lawsuit in the US federal court against the Modi government as well as Doval.

The summons were issued by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. It names the Indian Government, Doval, former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) Samant Goel, R&AW official Vikram Yadav and Indian businessman Nikhil Gupta.

In November 2023, US prosecutors had charged Gupta with a plot to kill at least four Sikh separatists in the US, including Pannun. Gupta has pleaded “not guilty” in a US court. They alleged that Gupta was recruited in May 2023 to orchestrate the plot.

The US had alleged that Gupta had paid $100,000 (approximately Rs 80 lakh) to a hitman to kill Pannun, who holds dual citizenship of the US and Canada.

The US had alleged that directions were issued to Gupta by an Indian Government official, who was not named or charged.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has designated Pannun as a terrorist and the Sikhs for Justice a terrorist organisation for their association with the Khalistan movement.

In the past, the White House has raised the alleged assassination plot with India at senior levels. India officials have distanced themselves from the plot, saying such actions are against the government policy.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, while replying to questions in the Rajya Sabha in December last year, had said that an inquiry had been instituted into the matter.